A belated return to the musings of a scribbler who considers himself an largely unreconstructed Capitalist, a Constitutional Textualist, and a largely unrepentant Stogie Smoking Curmudgeon. With luck, you'll find a bit of insight here, assembled from a logical and reasonable perspective, and served with a side of twisted humor. Be aware that irony and sarcasm may often find their way into these offerings; and it's the reader's obligation to discover where, when, or if they occur.

My Current Alias

Quotes of the Week

... because the sharpest curve that many of us will ever have to negotiate is that of a well-turned phrase

“Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” ― Mark Twain

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” ― Groucho Marx

“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” ― Thomas Jefferson

“The first duty of a man is to think for himself” ― Jose Marti

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” ― Ronald Reagan

“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.” ― Bertrand Russell

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James Madison

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Armageddon List

Don't worry, this isn't my plan to ready myself for survival after the End of Days. Instead it's a reference to a movie of the same title that's seen a lot of air time lately on cable. That and upcoming political conventions got me thinking about what my list of demands might be as my reward for saving the world. As is often the case, such thinking inevitably found itself onto the pages of this blog. After all, what's the point of 'nonsensical musings' if you don't make them public from time to time.

Have no fear, there will be no requests to bring back 8-track tapes (or cassettes for that matter). Too many twisted tape, jammed player experiences in my past make that even too nonsensical for me. Neither do I have anyone that I want to get special consideration for citizenship, or to stay in the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House for six months. There may be a few musical references before I'm finished however. In fact, let's start off with a one to get in the spirit things ....* It's time for many of these multimillion dollar cry babies in long-touring bands to get over their petty differences and tour with the original members. Dennis De Young is the lead singer of Styx, Jon Anderson is the lead singer of Yes, and Steve Perry is the lead singer of Journey. I don't care if the new guy sounds mostly the same, there's just some things that shouldn't be messed with. And before you ask about Van Halen, I am of the belief that they should tour alternate years, one with David Lee Roth and the other with Sammy Hagar.* Every federal agency is to be placed on a 5-year referendum; with both houses of Congress compelled to a straight up or down vote (without dodges or filibusters) on its effectiveness, necessity, and continuation.

* I want Will Farrell, Adam Sandler, and Rob Schneider to stop making movies. They play pretty much the same parts from one to the other anyway, so it's not like they would actually be giving up much in the way of an acting career; but if their absence could save even one life (let alone the intellects of movie-goers around the world) it would be worth it. Since every actor likes to recognized by their peers before their career is over (and believe me, for these three it is) I would even be willing to start a petition drive to have the Academy of Motion Pictures to award them a special "Lack of Lifetime Achievement" Oscar.

* Make some of the Networks out there change their names or their programming choices. If you're the "History Channel", you're about history. If network name is "Arts and Entertainment", then be about that. If you want to air trashy reality shows about horribly dysfunctional people, pawn shop thieves, and exterminators; your network name should be NBC (Nothing But Crap). Oh wait, that's already taken ... (Oh yeah, and MTV and VH1 both have to back to playing music videos ...)

* All laws passed by Congress to
likewise immediately become applicable to its members. Such laws to
become retroactive with respect to retirement plans and healthcare; but only long enough to place current and future members onto the Social Security rolls. I would further like a law added in which the pay of members of Congress is a daily fee, only for the days during which Congress is in session, and taxed at the highest individual rate allowed regardless of the amount of income earned.

* While we're at it, can we get a lot less of Donald Trump. It's bad enough that we have to deal with the over-the-top narcissism of naming everything he owns after himself and put up with combination of egotism and bad entertainment of his faux reality show, without listening to his tin-foil hat opinions on national politics. Maybe he could use the time he would gain in saving us from his opinions on a new television effort; one where he searches around the world for someone to give him a decent haircut.

* I want party primary elections to be paid for by the parties picking candidates. General elections are a civic responsibility (even though most people don't choose to exercise their obligation where they're involved), so I don't mind paying for them. I'm sick to death however of paying for the two biggest political teams billing me for letting them make their 'fantasy football' choices when others like the Green Party, the Constitution Party, or Libertarians have to foot their own bill.

* There is one however, that I will cheerfully steal from the movie: "Yeah one more thing, um... none of them wanna pay taxes again. Ever."

I may add to this list in the coming days as more ideas (or suggestions) come to me; so don't be surprised to see this get longer over the weekend.

3 comments:

Amigo Tim,That's quite a list! I agree with you on the "sunset" legisltion issue. And, I do believe you have really got me thinking about that partisan primary election finance issue.In regards to taxes, I take on a perspective borrowing from Wimpy: I will gladly pay my taxes tomorrow for some needed necessary quality government services today.

The 'Wimpy Solution' would be my second choice, but remember this is what you bill the nation for saving it and the rest of the world. As such, they should be more than willing to tear up my check now.

Mi Amigo Tim,This is all very taxing for me; and, I might now add that having just returned from the grocery store and having just seen the most current price of hamburger, I do believe I need some tax relief.